Suicide Zoo's position
Modern forum
Posted on Aug. 9, 2016, 9:55 p.m. by Dorotheus
I played the deck when it was premiered, had some fun dropped it, and now it's back so I tried to pick it up again, against this meta.
I just do not see how or why it is putting up numbers like it is. I see a lot of tier 2 decks or tempo decks shutting it down, and burn. Just looking for more answers post-playtesting... I think there might be a /stronger/ version of the deck available.
Just want to hear some insight from other modern-literate people.
EpicFreddi says... #3
The reason why this deck puts out so good numbers is simply because it's well positioned at the moment. It's not just the fact that it turned the downside of modern (that is Shocklands) into an upside, it's also incredibly fast and can win by turn 3.
August 10, 2016 3:14 a.m.
Just to expand; Suicide Zoo has little to zero protection, unlike Infect.
Folds to burn game 1 and struggles otherwise. And does not react well to interaction.
The decks strongest points are against Tron and Affinity, but it's showing along-side Infect seems to be making Tron less of an attendant. It also falls flat to Dredge and Living End, and is just not favored to Merfolk or Jund.
August 10, 2016 5:23 a.m.
its actually a very good deck due to a mixture of speed and consistency. Not only are very fast decks generally good (see: Burn, Infect etc) because they prey on all other slower decks, but the added consistency from card draw in gitaxian probe, mishras baub, and street wraith means that it isnt as affected by removal as some other competitors. Furthermore an awful lot of aggressive decks are severely hindered by anger of the gods and other cheap sweepers that do a set amount of damage. Suicide zoo is more resilient due to the impressive power and toughness of deaths shadow. The dual ability to go large and wide is not seen in many decks and is a fantastic upside.
ive played both jund and abzan against it as well as control - do not underestimate the speed or the consistency. if you miss a single removal spell you will be punished. thats what a good aggro deck should do.
August 10, 2016 5:26 a.m.
online only doesnt tell the whole story. deckchas placed well in opens, iqs and also OGW pro tour. its a good deck.
Monastery Mentor with Gitaxian Probe, Mutagenic Growth, and Temur Battle Rage can be putting out 10+ damage turn 2 with little effort. with all the cantripping its exceedingly good at consistently putting out damage.
August 10, 2016 5:30 a.m.
EpicFreddi says... #7
Dorotheus I don't really agree with your statement that it folds to Burn G1. If I see a turn 1 Lavaspike or Lightning Bolt, I'll just not go below a certain amount of life to survive. Of course you have to damage yourself up to a certain point, but you can stop after two shock/fetches.
August 10, 2016 5:32 a.m.
I don't have any experience with or against it, but it looks like a fun deck. I have everything except the death's shadows (kind of important) and I suppose I need an arid mesa and godless shrine. I've seen some really good (pro) players playing it with pretty good results.
August 10, 2016 11:27 a.m.
It's become one of the most curve efficient aggro decks with so many solid choices at just one mana. Kird Ape, Wild Nacatl, Monastery Swiftspear, and Death's Shadow are all incredibly efficient beaters. Then you have a bunch of free card draw. Then you have access to a good chunk of the best one drop spells in the format with Lightning Bolt, Thoughtseize, Path to Exile, etc. Just enough to disrupt any deck on those early turns. Then deck essentially hits the top of it's curve with two drops like Tarmogoyf, Scavenging Ooze (mostly out of the sideboard), and Abrupt Decays. If you took a midrange deck a blasted it with a shrink ray, this is what you would get. Not that I would call it a midrange deck.
August 10, 2016 7:15 p.m.
DarksteelBadger says... #10
I need some help on how to play against Suicide Zoo. If you are playing Aggro... do you just flunge for the win hoping to kill them instead of just making Death's Shadow bigger? What about Midrange?
August 10, 2016 9:28 p.m.
Turbo Fog has a fun time against Suicide Zoo, take that as a morsel of knowledge. But if you can kill all their dudes, they can't beat you so...
DrFunk27 says... #2
It's only putting up numbers on MTGO to be honest and that's because MTGO is a very fast medium. More so than paper because, to be honest, a lot of players don't have the money to blow on tix for expensive cards.
I think it could gain interest in paper soon, but it's just not there currently.
August 10, 2016 12:18 a.m.